Many computer software applications or computer operating systems provide a number of interactive features for performing one or more specific functions that are provided on a user interface. For example, a graphical design application may commonly permit a user to save a graphic image file by clicking on an interactive button displayed on a user interface, or by selecting an option from a drop-down menu (e.g., “File,” and “Save as . . . ”) rendered on the user interface. Additionally, the locations or arrangements of interactive features within a user interface may typically be customized at a user's discretion. For example, a user may elect to display a tool such as a pallet having a set of interactive features in a substantially horizontal orientation on a user interface or in a substantially vertical orientation, and in a fixed position with regard to a grid on the user interface, or in a floating, adjustable position on the user interface.
Moreover, many software applications that provide a number of adjustable features or options on a user interface are pre-loaded or pre-configured to present such features or options in a predefined, default manner. For example, a web browser usually provides an address bar and action buttons along a top border of a user interface, and a slider bar along a right side of the user interface. A word processing application is typically configured to open word processing documents in a particular size (e.g., corresponding to “letter,” or 8½″×11″ sheets) or orientation (e.g., substantially vertical, or portrait), or to display characters in a particular font (e.g., Arial). Such sizes, orientations or fonts are typically selected to appeal to the average user. Similarly, a spreadsheet application may be commonly configured to open spreadsheet documents with cells arranged in columns and rows of conventional sizes by default. Likewise, an operating system for a smartphone may arrange icons or buttons on a display in a general manner that is assumed to correspond with the desires of a typical user.
Occasionally, however, different users of a software application or computer device may have different preferences for the functional layout or characteristics of a user interface by such an application on such a device. The preferences of such users may vary on any basis, such as the users' respective levels of experience with software applications of the same or similar types, the roles or functions which each user may play within a business or other organization, as well as any relevant operational characteristics of the software application or the computer device, or any relevant environmental conditions in a vicinity of the computer device. Although the layouts or configurations of features or options that are rendered within user interfaces provided by software applications and presented on computer displays may be modified from their default conditions at a later time, the capacity to modify such layouts or configurations, or the process steps required in order to do so, are frequently not readily apparent to a user. Presently, the only known means for presenting features or options in a user interface in a manner that may be preferred by a user is to establish a default layout or configuration of such features or options that is believed to be safe and unobjectionable, as there is no way to accurately predict a preferred layout or configuration for each individual user.